Monday, 24 April 2017

Aquabeads Frozen Playset | Review

Lily adores playing with Aquabeads and creating a variety of different designs using the ready-to-use templates for inspiration. On Sunday afternoons she enjoys creating her own designs using her imagination, which requires some concentration and patience but overall she enjoys the entire process. When the opportunity to review the Aquabeads Frozen Playset arose of course I said, yes please! Lily was incredibly pleased when the package arrived and couldn't wait to get stuck in.

What is it?

An arts and crafts product suitable from the age of four. Create designs of popular characters from Frozen using beads which stick together with water.

First impressions:
The Aquabeads Frozen Playset is very visually pleasing to the eye, boasting the blue colours associated with Disney's Frozen along with an image of Anna and Elsa. It also showcases what is inside the packaging and an example of what can be created. Lily really impressed and couldn't wait to get the box open.

What is in the box:

Bead palette

Design Table with layout tray

Sprayer

Bead pen

Double-sided template sheets x 2

A variety of coloured solid beads and jewel beads

Assembly:Although I know the beads will get mixed up, I initially set up the bead palette for Lily. The template tray is simple to use with the design table and align before using the bean pen to drop and position individual beads.

The Lowdown:

Aquabeads are an innovation bead art set which allows for the design of template designs or unique creations

Keep the Frozen character design to collect or give away as a gift

The beads adhere together using a spray mist of water; usually take 1 hour to dry before the otherside can be spray-misted. No mess!

Pros - Just uses water - no heat, no irons, thereby reducing the amount of adult supevision. The bead palette stores and separates the colours of solid and jewel beads. Good selection of coloured beads to create the Disney Frozen images. Putting the beads into mouths is deterred by the use of a safe bittering agent. It is a good idea to wash hands following playing with the Aquabeads to avoid the transfer of the bittering agent. The instruction leaflet also includes information on repairing a broken and/or bent design which is very useful.

Improvements - the bead pen can be a bit temperamental and can drop the bead as it is being lifted away from the palette. The bead palette could house the design/layout tray so everything could be kept together. I'm not convinced of the benefit of holding the layout tray upright (see first image) as the beads could simply drop off and scatter away if they haven't adhered sufficiently. Our playset didn't include the number of yellow Aquabeads which were displayed on the front of the box; as you can see from the photos we only had 4 beads. Lily also found that there weren't enough of the white beads to complete the remaining templates (particularly Elsa) once Olaf was complete, so overall more beads would be appreciated to reflect the image on the box.

Price and Where to buy:

Aquabeads Frozen playset is available from £16.99 and can be purchased in a variety of stores and online, including Smyths Toys.

Would we recommend?We certainly would recommend this bead crafting set for anyone who enjoys Frozen especially and already has existing Aquabead sets. My daughter Lily really enjoys creating the characters and it gets her imagination going to see what else she can create. I'm happy that there is a storage box of sorts for the beads rather than my previous set up of using IKEA plastic sandwich bags. If you have an existing Aquabeads set which can contain everything then you could combine everything to store together. I would recommend overalls to be worn as the water-soluble beads can transfer dye or start to stick to clothing or the floor if they roll away.

Does your child enjoy playing with Aquabeads?

Top tip: Play with the Aquabeads on a lipped tray to prevent the little bead rolling away!